Ever want to crack open the Snowball microphone to see what's inside? Well, with three of them sitting at my desk, I figured I could risk opening one Snowball for the sake of curiosity. Inside I found two half-inch microphone capsules ringed with black foam. The upper capsule is vented on the back to receive sound from both directions (omnidirectional), while the back of the lower capsule is covered to emphasize sound from the front. Overall, the interior of the microphone--the materials and components--are exceedingly rugged for a $99 product.

The rear view of the Snowball USB microphone. At the center you'll notice the three position switch for each of the microphone's recording modes(cardioid, cardioid -10dB, and omni). Below the switch is the mic's metal-reinforced USB connection.